Seeking out a teacher and teachings

[wadoka]

Jaron - a question for you, although this is partly based on comments in other threads.

Tell about how you continued your own training when you moved to Israel, how that went and how/why you sought out a teacher.

I know you travel far and wide across borders, whilst some people barely travel from one county in the UK to another.

[jaronlegel]

Hi,

Sorry that I didn't answer earlier.

When I emigrated to Israel I just continued training on my own. I was 2nd dan KBN (Dutch Karate Federation) at the time. I searched my training and advise for techniques whenever I came to Holland with teachers and dojo that I knew.
From the time that I emigrated to the time that I married my wife I lived in several kibutzes. These are agricultural settlements and pretty remote from cities. Still I always trained where ever I was and always found some training partner or somebody who wanted to know about this weird stuff I was doing.

After our marriage we moved to a town called Petah Tikva which is in the Tel Aviv area. From here I started teaching karate. First in Jaffo, later in Kfar Saba, these are other towns in the Tel Aviv area.
I thought that in order to continue my own training I needed to teach and create my own club. This went pretty succesful. I had a nice group of adults and an impressive group of kids. I had even people from abroad coming in and train. Eddie McConnel became a very good friend of me and the family.
I even found two other guys doing Wado in Israel and we tried to set up an association.
Because of the association I realized that we needed some contact with one of the 3 major Wado organizations. Through the Yahoo group forum I came in contact with Nash sensei who I finally met in 2005 at a seminar in Berlin where he taught.

Meanwhile my two associates couldn't continue with the association and I had problems continueing teaching because of work and knee operations. And so my club ended.
During the recovery and afterwards I continued training, now with guidance of Nash sensei.

Today I am making a carreer switch. I found my job as an import-export coordinator unsatisfying and therefore I am studying now to become an English teacher. With this new career I hope to have enough spare-time to again open a dojo and teach Wado.

So until I met Nash sensei, I thought I knew everything, but sensei showed me how little I knew and how much I still have to learn.
I sought an organisation to join but with that found a teacher for which I am very greatful.

It became very clear to me that you need a teacher. Yes, you can train on your own. But you need someone who hits you on the head, as I call it, and tells you what you are doing wrong and (re-)directs you in the right direction.
By training on your own you can easily get off-track, without realizing it, and make mistakes.
So when you are lucky, you will find a teacher right around the corner, or you find yourself flying to all kinds of seminars.
Because of the Israeli situation I always have to fly out of the country. The airliners have an obvious monopole that they clearly exploit.
Still through these travels to seminars in Europe and one time in the US, I met a lot of extra ordinary people and friends who other wise I would have missed knowing.

I could have easily started in another style. For some reason are the other styles, Shotokan, Goju, Shito and Kyokushin well represented in Israel. However my mentor at the instructor's course gave a good advise to all of his students. "Stay faithfull to your way." I guess that kept me going.

I hope I was able to answer your question a bit...

Yours,
Jaron

[mspain]

Hello, Jaron. Mike in Thailand.

How often did you train face to face with Sensei Bob after you found him?

Mike Spain

[wadoka]

That Eddie McConnell gets everywhere doesn't he.

Thanks for that Jaron, very interesting. It takes a lot of time, commitment and money on your part.

[jaronlegel]

Yes, Eddie gets around, and he brings Guiness with him....

It becomes a part of you, of your lifestyle. So the commitment comes only naturally. It sounds stupid but I end up relating everything to Wado / budo.

@Mike, Hi nice to see you here on the forum.

How much did I see Nash sensei? As much as possible, which is like ones or twice a year.
It depends mainly on the financial situation and sometimes other obligations (work, family), but money is the biggest issue. Mostly because of the monopole position of the airliners.
So I get a lot of homework from Nash sensei. This can be seemingly a little point but this then influences your whole technique...and then it becomes a lot of work.

Jaron

[mspain]

Thanks for the reply, Jaron.

Mike

[inKanto]

Yes, Eddie gets around, and he brings Guiness with him....
Jaron

In my case, he brings rice pudding. In the land of rice, it is nowhere to be found!

Brilliant bloke is Eddie; there's not a bad word I can put against him.

Jaron, are you conversant in the languages of the countries you visit? How did you cope with the instructing?

[jaronlegel]

Hi Peter,
Sorry for my late response.
Some of the countries lingo I speak, some I don't. But most of the classes, as they are mostly international, are done in English. As for the last 8 years it has obvious been spoken in English, since it wsa mostly my teacher sensei Bob Nash, or his teacher Takagi sensei...